Psycho-Pass: the Hunt
by sws5sospatd
Summary: Flagged a Latent criminal, Kaiden is given the chance to escape the solitary confinement nearly all Latents get, by helping a team of Enforcers hunt and catch the one person she'd hated forever; her older brother, a criminal who's been affecting area stress levels for years. With the help of the attractive and distracting Hayes and the rest of the team, can she stop her own family?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One: **_The Enemy_

Heavy rain pounded the alley and slid off the lids to the dumpsters around me. I did my best to compact myself into the miniscule space between the Pizza Parlors Trash bin and the brick wall behind me. Covering whatever exposed skin I had with my hoodie and previously dyed hair, I prayed they'd pass without seeing me.

Though, it wasn't as if god favored me anymore.

90 seconds ago I was fine, I was normal, I was anything other than I was now. Until I caught sight of the street-flagger, looked into it's mechanical-eye and watched as all hell broke loose. It was okay at first, nothing happened, and then one of the well known avatars stepped in front of me, a wicked fake grin on its robotic head as it spoke with a monotone voice.

_"Excuse me ma'am, would you mind if we took a quick measure of your psycho-pass?"_

_"What? Uh, sure." I cleared my throat, looking away awkwardly as my friends stopped just ahead, waiting for me to finish up and join them. The machine took longer than usual, a few seconds more to be exact, and I began to get anxious._

_"Oh, my. You're definitely in need of some emergency therapy." The machine cooed, ushering me to the edge of the crowd that passed by me and the robot, flashing us nervous glances. My eyes widened and I shook my head vigorously. "Your crime-coefficient is rated at 250."_

_"Please, no, take it again." I stammered on the words. 250? That's nearly double what it was this morning! I shook my head hard, slowly backing up out of instinct. My mind told me to run, run far. All they ever did to people with crime-coefficients above 200 is lock them up, I'd never seen somebody above 200 get even the option of therapy, it was apparently useless. "Take it again."_

_"Not necessary. Please come with me for some emergency therapy."_

_I bit my lip, looking back at my friends, Hannah and Miyuki, who waited patiently a few steps behind the machine, unable to hear out conversation through the mix of other voices and rain. Swallowing the air I struggled to breathe in, I forced up a lie. "Yes, yes of course."_

_The machine spun around to begin leading me to the Public Safety Bureau that was barely two blocks from our stance, only I didn't follow it._

_I ran harder than I'd ever run before. My feet splashed in tiny puddles along the sidewalk, people cleared out of my way quickly once they took note of me. I ducked into an alley, taking time only now to look back at the two machines that rounded the corner after me._

"Kaiden Rayys? You are in need of emergency therapy. Please follow me." The machines echoed along as the darted down the alley. I hid safely under my clothes, not daring to look up as their wheels loomed closer.

"00987, 00988 please return to your posts. Division 2 will take it from here on out." A new voice startled me as it called from the entryway to the ally, a female sounding to be older.

"Yes, Inspector Keysh." The machines spun, the sound of the wheels cracking on the gravel made me wince, but I didn't dare make a sound as the duo disappeared back down the alley.

My nerves extended to severe the moment _division _was mentioned. There were three divisions in San Francisco, and they were all forces to be reckoned with. Groups of inspectors and enforcers that dedicated their lives, or what little freedom they had, to hunting and tracing latent criminals.

People like me, apparently.

"Enforcers, separate into two's. Kyle and Maya, take quadrant two, Karly, Jason, quadrant three, Benny and Hayes, you're on quadrant four. Inspector Aillot and I will be in Quadrant one. Go."

Footsteps pounded as people dispersed in different directions, some heading towards me. I cowered further behind the dumpster, waiting for the inevitable. I closed my eyes as rain grew heavier, and soon enough my once dry clothes were soaked with water. I was wet at the core, my toes shivering from frost.

"Knock, knock. Anyone home?" Someone laughed from not to far away, I bit my bottom lip in an action of fear. "Hello?"

"Shut up, Karly, you aren't funny." A second person informed. The pair grew closer.

"Come on out, the Dominators don't hurt, promise! We're just going to put you to sleep for a little bit." The female of the two said quietly. "Come on, this is so boring."

"We've been at it for barely thirty seconds." The boy laughed, "Whatever, let's go checkout the roofs, they could have climbed the fire-escape."

"Aye, aye, _Inspector._" The girl giggled, rushing towards the black ladder, she climbed above me, further up the fire-escape that lined the hotel above the pizza parlor.

"Don't you ever call me that." The boy stammered, obviously angry. He followed closely behind her, but with him, I heard him stop just above me. And I made the mistake of looking up, meeting two bright-green eyes that held a sickeningly happy look to them. "Bingo."

I stood quickly, racing back down the alley and out onto the street, I heard him right after me, his partner no doubt just behind him. I listened as he spoke into the communicator that was hitched into the weapons the enforcers were equipped with, gun-like Dominators that measured someone's psycho-pass and decided automatically whether you could just subdue them, or kill them too. "Found the Latent, pursuing on foot down 43rd street, back up requested."

Someone spoke back through the device, "On it."

I picked up my pace, my hands whipping at my sides as I pushed and shoved past people in my way, doing my best to keep my head start strong. I looked up at the flash of movement, someone ran along the roofs of the townhouses I passed, jumping across the small, meter-wide gaps between them, they never took their eyes off of me.

I ran across the street, ignoring the honking traffic. I continued my run on the opposite end of the road, until something sharp jabbed at my left shoulder and my legs stopped working, sending my flying forward at the same pace I'd been running at. I would have hit the ground had someone not grabbed my wrist the moment before my head smashed the concrete, saving me from a drastic headache. I couldn't look up at them, my limbs felt numb, my muscles limp. I felt like I was in a state of paralysis everywhere.

"Latent apprehended at the corner of 43rd and 100th. Paddy Wagon pick-up requested." The voice was male, and without any kind of emotion or tone to it.

"Ready, aim, kill, eh Hayes?" The girl from earlier spoke from somewhere behind me. I couldn't see her, I couldn't see anyone, only the cold are ground in front of my face. "You just going to keep dangling her like a stuffed doll or what? Poor thing looks like spaghetti."

"Spaghetti? Interesting observation, Maya." Someone else spoke up, the voice recognisable from earlier in the night, just a few minutes ago, "Load her in, we'll head back to MWPSB Headquarters once everyone's rounded back."

"Yes, sir." The girl, Maya, said, before grabbing my other arm and lifting me so she could wrap her frail, twig-sized arms around my torso. I finally got a good look at her, with bright-pink hair that was beginning to grow out at the roots and incredibly tanned skin, she was certainly attention grabbing, I'd hand her that much for sure. "Well hello there, my name is Maya and I love your hair."

She struggled to throw me over her shoulder, but eventually succeeded, shocking me with the amount of strength she had in her frail arms. I was carried into the back of a Paddy Wagon, it's black exterior and interior seemed bland and frightening, even more so frightening. The girl, Maya, dropped me onto the seat beside her, and once again I tried to move. I made an attempt to wiggle my toes, but came out with no luck. I was stuck where I was. 5 others climbed into the vehicle behind us, sitting mostly on the bench across from us, aside from one blonde boy who sat beside Maya, their facial resemblance catching me right away, from what I could see, anyways, with my head rolling around my neck.

The drive was short for me, as seconds into it my eyes blackened and my other senses faded out, I was left with nothing but my own thoughts.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: **Decisions

"Hold her down, and this time- don't let her squirm." Even with my eyes closed, I could tell something was different. The voice was female, though I didn't recognize it. The room I was in felt odd, different from the paddy wagon I'd passed out on. How long had I been out for?

I struggled to open my eyes, but they didn't even make a slit. My vision remained still black, forcing me to rely on my hearing. People shuffled around me, and my sense of feeling told me people were grasping joints like my knees, ankles and wrists as if I'd make a blind brake for it. I was back-down on a cold surface, my head pounding as the light (so obviously placed above me) put choruses of pink behind my eyelids.

"_Don't let her squirm._" The same voice repeated, and a new set of hands dripped my arm, "Kaiden? I'm not going to bullshit you. This will hurt, and you will not like it."

I wanted to ask _what will hurt? _but no voice came out of my parched lips. I slashed my legs around at whomever was holding them steady, only to have them bounce back onto the table under their grip. Someone else spoke, "Feisty. The others didn't start to move until after they felt like they were dying."

_The others._

I stilled, panic making me rationalize. What could I do? I barely had enough time to ask myself the question before a needle was jabbed into my upper arm, fluid injected into my bloodstream. I felt nothing for the first four seconds, everything was silent and everyone waited for some kind of reaction. At first, my mind said it didn't work, whatever they wanted to do didn't work, I figured the pain might not come.

But it was only the calm before the storm.

My chest started burning from the inside out, stinging excruciatingly. As the feeling spread across my limbs one by one, I slashed, kicked and enforced every movement my joints could stand, but it didn't help.

"Steady, boys. Last one coming." A new needle was jabbed into my opposing arm, and the feeling intensified. I felt my eyes squeeze shut tighter than they should need to be. My lungs gasped for the breath I'd been holding, but it never came. Maybe I'd get lucky and faint again.

"And last thing-" The deep, unfamiliar female voice continued, using a much, much bigger needle to inject something into my wrist, I barely even felt it compared to everything else. "Alright, let go, let her scream. I'm done."

Hands peeled off of my body and I resorted to my squirming in attempt to relieve the pain. My feet were flying, flailing off the table at high, newly unrestricted speeds. I was screaming, maybe even crying, I wasn't too positive as to which. I found myself stopping moments later to sop silently, newly positioned in a tight ball consisting of my folded limbs and torso. Silently sobbing inside the uncomfortable yet soothing position.

The pain subsided, and I was left scarred. My eyes, no longer blackened, allowed me to look out of my position at the people around me. The girl with the bright-pink hair stood to my left beside 5 other figures. Spaced from them were two more, one male one female, and on the completely opposite side to me was a blonde woman in a lab coat. I glared at all of them.

"My apologies for the way that went, but you restricted enforcement, which meant they had to paralyse you. Which meant in order to get _un_paralysed you'd need this antidote." she held up two empty syringes. "Which hurt like a bitch. Touches all your nerves, brings the feeling back to them rather abruptly."

"I noticed." I muttered. "Where am I?"

"WMPSB Headquarters, my office to be more specific." She paused. "My name is Dr. Montgomiry, I'm the District Two Enforcer Units very own caretaker, pretty much."

"That's not important right now, Claire." Someone spoke up, and I spun around to look at them. An older woman looking to be about 30 stepped towards me, examining my facial features, she shook her head. "The resemblance between you and your brother is extraordinary, Ms. Rayys."

"I don't talk about my brother." I shot back, scratching nervously at my arms. The situation was confusing me. Even as aware as I was, I felt I didn't know anything, that everything had somehow changed because I'd ran. Recalling the pain I'd felt only moments earlier, I winced.

"Funny, because that's what you'll be talking about today." She retorted, not missing a beat. "We need him in custody. He's raising area-stress levels too easily, we've put 12 people in emergency therapy for their psycho-pass', that were elevated for the sole reason of having been _standing near him._" She paused, "Your brother is dangerous, and we need your help to take him down."

"No." This time it was me who didn't miss a beat. "You may be the cops, but he is my brother. He is my _brother, _and I won't help you lock him up, I realize what he's done is wrong, he fucked up immensely, but he'll deal with it. I won't be sad if you find him, but I won't be helping."

"It's not betrayal anymore if he betrayed you first, Ms. Rayys." She paused, smiling sadly at me. "Think about it. If he can raise Area-Stress Levels by 16 percent just in a matter of hours, how much could he have raised yours having lived with you? You're lucky you got away with the late 200's in your Psycho-Pass number, because the way I see it, you could have gotten 700. And then you'd be dead."

I didn't speak, only continued to listen. The other one, a man in his early 20's smiled warmly at me, the two resembling a good cop/ bad cop sit com. "Listen, Kaiden. You're seventeen, you're still a teenager. Do you really want to spend your highlight-years in a solitary sell? Here's out deal: Help us find him, and you get off on the same rules as the enforcers. You can remain on the job as a full-time enforcer permanently afterwards, or stop once we've captured your brother. Should you choose the latter option, we can work out a deal that suits both our needs. Cut your solitary time or something of the sort."

I chuckled, "He's my brother-"

"Do you really think he thinks of you as his sister anymore?" He paused. "I'm sorry, but Kaiden, wake up. Gareth Rayys sold his soul to the devil, and you need to help him redeem himself. Help him get better, save lives of other innocents. Stop his murders."

"Why me?"

"Because," he smiled softly. "You're his blood. Who knows him better than his own sister?"

I paused, shuffling uncomfortably. "What do you mean the _Enforcer Rules_?"

Both of them smirked in a sense of victory. "Enforcers, as you probably know, are latent criminals. Hand selected by their abilities and background, they are placed into the Divisions of the Public Safety bureau. But, even with them not having solitary confinement or anything of the sort, they're still Latents. We can't have them running around making a mockery of the system, it'd be insane."

"Right here, Mr. D. We're right here." A boy called from my left, chuckling. I didn't look over at him, I didn't feel a need to.

"Shut up, Jason. Don't act like a four year old, it really doesn't do you any good." The older woman judged, her face showing multiple hints of amusement. She turned to me, smiling sickly. "We need your help. I hate to admit it, but it's true. Ask yourself this, Kaiden- would you rather be everyone's salvation? Or the reason 100 more people end up in confinement for the rest of your lives? We have a six year old in the solitary rooms because of your brother. A six year old who can no longer see her own mother."

I wince, shaking my head, recalling memories. I hated my brother, deeply, and yet my eyes still watered at the thought of him. The day he'd left us had been rough, it'd been incredible hard to let him go. Even harder to lie to mom for him afterward, to watch her cry and drop to her knees. I didn't know how to feel back then, about any of this.

_"What are you doing?" I asked him, flipping a curled lock of blonde hair behind my shoulder. My eyes followed my brother as he raced around his room to shove clothes and electronics into his suitcase. "Where are you thinking of going?"_

_"Shut it, Kai." He groaned, scratching the back of his head. For once, he looked like he regretted being mean to me. "Sorry."_

_"It's fine. But, seriously. Where are you going?" I asked, looking down at my shoes. "Does mom know?"_

_"No, and you won't tell her." He paused, sitting on his bed, he motioned for me to join him. "I'm sorry, okay? But something's happened and I need to go away for a little while until things cool down. Until they stop looking for me. You can't tell mom, she'd hand me right to them on a silver fucking platter."_

_I gasped, a normal reaction from a 7 year old girl. "You swore."_

_He chuckled, pulling me in for a quick hug before he stood to continue packing his things. "Tell mom I got flagged, and that I'm going to go to dad's for while. Don't tell her where I'm really going."_

_"Well, I don't even know where you're really going, so how could I? Duh." I said sassily. He grinned, zipping his bag, he dragged me out of his room and into the kitchen, where I resumed sitting and watching him throw items into a new bag. _

_"It's a secret, okay?" His smile faded, and he began to look like more of a depressed 50 year old compared to his normal 14 year old self. "You have to keep it between us."_

_"Okay, deal." I smiled back at him. He tied the plastic bag shut and shoved it into his suitcase amongst his other things. _

_He opened the drawer our mother had always called the_ forbidden drawer _and pulled out a wad of who knows how much cash, before turning and giving me one last hug, during which he whispered, "Remember the abandoned farm mom took us to on that camping trip a few year back? There."_

_"There." I repeated, smiling, still incredibly unaware of what was really going on around us. "How long will you be gone?"_

_"A while," He said, after a long hesitation. "I love you."_

_"Ewe." I crinkled my nose and stood. Watching him walk out the door one last time._

"We've already implanted a microchip into your wrist, you'll be able to see it blinking now and then, transmitting a signal. It's normal." The man I now knew as Steven Humphrey, the same man who'd been speaking to me earlier, said, speaking of the small newly-bruised spot on my inner left-wrist. "Try not to touch it for a while, it'll hurt for a few days."

I nod, offering no other sign I'd heard him.

"I'm supposed to go over the rules of being an enforcer with you, and then you get to sign the papers and-"

"I haven't agreed."

"What?" he says, having no entirely heard me.

"I haven't agreed yet, I never said I'd do it. I'm still deciding." I reminded him, and slowly he nods back.

"Right, sorry." he clears his throat. "And then you can either sign the papers for enforcement duty, or get locked up."

I wince, it was harsh the way he'd phrased it, but it was the truth. My options laid out plain and simply. "So, the rules?"

"Right. Enforcers aren't allowed to leave the building without consent from the on-duty inspector, which will be either Mrs. Aillot, the woman you met earlier, or me. Most of the time we'll only allow you to leave for tasks related to our jobs here, but sometimes one of us might just feel like a smoothie and send you off, mostly it'd just me who does that though." He laughed.

"Really?" One of my eyebrows raised instinctively.

"Well, think of it as this; when I send someone out to get me a smoothie, they get to walk around like a civilian again, even if only for a while. It's a blessing in disguise." He clears his throat, "Now, the second rule, all enforcers have to be in the containment building by midnight every night. Between the hours of 7am to midnight, I don't care what you do on the bureaus property, but after that you have to be in the containment building."

"Containment building?"

"The building at the east end of the property, it's what I like to call the enforcers hotel. It had 28 suites 9 floors, and 24 enforcers." He muttered his next part under his breath, "Maybe 25."

I rolled my eyes.

"Rule three is the biggy, don't frick this up. Should an enforcer not comply with a direct order from an inspector or anyone of higher rank than them, they are subject to punishment 4.2," he clears his throat, yet again. "Paralysis and injection."

"Paralysis and injection?" I ask, though my mind tells me I knew exactly what it was.

"That wonderful thing you went through." He pauses, "The only way to stop the paralysis that comes with the dart that lovely boy hayes put through your back last night is to be injected with that nerve-shocking thing."

I shivered. _Just don't fuck up._

"Those are pretty much the only rules, I guess." He shrugs. "So, what's the verdict?"


	3. Chapter 3

"Yes." I say quietly, guilt nagging at me immediately.

"Yes? Fantastic!" Stephen said, not holding back the excitement on his face. I was led to believe their division hadn't had a new recruit in a long, long while. "Come, follow me."

I sighed as he led me out of the building and across a small courtyard. I was amazed at the level of gardening that'd been done for a place so ... professional? The last thing I expected to see was white roses lining a fountain, but that doesn't mean I didn't smile at the sight. Stephen didn't notice my facial expression as we passed, he only walked quick and forced us towards a tall building that looked brand new on the outside. White and glass walls lined the outside, but It was obvious they were tinted to such an extent I could only see the outlines of items that touched the surface, such as the occasional edge of something.

Stephen brought us inside the front doors and passed the front desk, where a lady immediately stood up and became alert, but the moment he flashed her his ID card, she sat back down and resumed her work. I bit my lip, holding back the question of why they needed a receptionist at the _Enforcers Hotel. _Stephen stopped in front of an elevator, "So, I'm going to take you up to the meeting room and we can get the legal work done, all that crap, as I said earlier, and then we can get you settled and introduce you to your team."

"How many people are there?" I asked as we stepped into the elevator and he pressed the button for the ninth floor. "On the enforcer team, I mean."

"Seven, with you." He replied, clasping his hands together behind his back in a professional manner. "There are 3 divisions, though, all of which have their enforcers living here, so it's pretty hectic all the time. They try to keep it so one floor will house all the members of a division, but there're only seven suits, and both of the other divisions have close to 9 people in them, and that's why there are four floors for housing- the fourth one is for the extra's."

I nod, "Then, what's on the other.." I did the math in my head, which took me longer than expected. "Five floors."

He looks upwards, thinking it over, "Well, three of them are also for each division, for research and cases and the meeting rooms and such. And one of them, the bottom one, is the hangout floor, I guess. It's got everything from a bar to a Foosball table."

"Really?" I snort lightly, surprised as to why they would provide such assets to a team of latents, a team of people who most of society regarded as freaks. A group of people who, a couple of hours a go, I'd regarded as freaks. I shuddered at the thought, closing my eyes firmly for a few seconds. "I wouldn't have guessed."

The bell dinged and we stepped off the elevator, walking down a long stretch of hall, with walls made of glass that allowed us to see into every room, all different. The first one that we saw was a computer room, with multiple black desks and computers for each one. Some of them were neat, with files piled and put away in the cabinets behind the desks, others were littered with papers everywhere, it'd be like a needle in a haystack to find a certain file in the mess.

Next to it, we approached a door to a room that contained a long, oval-shaped table with multiple business chairs surrounding it. Stephen walked over to it and held it open for me, and I stepped inside, noting the fact that I hadn't noticed the man that sat in the chair at the opposite end of the room, a wad of papers sitting on the table before him. He stood respectively, "Hello, my name is Dr. Richard Brennon, and the Division 3 lawyer. I'm just here for your signing the papers."

"Oh." I say, glancing back at Stephen, I drop my voice to a whisper, "How'd he get here so fast?"

"He's been here since you woke up." Stephen says, chuckling. "There was next to a 0% chance you'd say no."

"Right." I say, holding back a frown. They knew I'd say yes even before I had.

I slid into a seat beside the lawyer, and Stephen sat on the opposite side of him. The wad of papers was slid my way, and the Lawyer began to point out certain aspects of it, spending a great deal of time explaining each and every thing mentioned. By the time it was over, I was anxious to sign it and leave the room, my brain sincerely overwhelmed by lawyer terms. I signed it in three places before handing it back to the man and leaving the room behind Stephen, who'd been waiting patiently near the door.

"So, where to?" I asked as we made our way back onto the elevator.

"The suites." He says, pressing the button for the 8th floor. The elevator makes a slow, quick descent, and we step off at the next floor downwards. The moment we're in the hall, I note the difference.

The walls weren't glass, but instead normal, painted a pale grey. There were a total of 9 doors, most of which evenly spaced apart, probably right down to the centimeter, aside from the two in the middle of the hall, directly across from each other, one with a cartoon woman drawn on, the other with a male. I dubbed those the bathrooms, no doubt. Stephen brought me to a door right beside them, pushing it open, "This is yours."

"Okay." I say, stepping inside. It was pretty fancy for what I expected, with a bed against the wall, and a glass wall that exposed the courtyard 8 stories below us. There was a black dresser, blue carpet and a small lounging area in the closest corner, fit with a coffee table and two small couches. Well, technically one was called a _chaise lounge, _but that wasn't of importance. "Do I just hang out here for the rest of the night, or...?"

"It doesn't matter to me." He shrugs, glancing down at his watch. "It's only 9pm, so you can go hang out in the other buildings or in the courtyard, it makes no difference to me. Just be back in this building before 12 and we're all good."

I nod, "Okay, thanks."

He smiles before leaving, but doesn't close the door behind him. I walk around the room, touching random objects and furniture inside it, before finally coming across the closet. Upon opening it, I was surprised to find it full of clothing, nearly 90% of it made out of dull colors and shades. I riffled through it, frowning at the three different style it held- professional, formal and overly casual. No in between.

I pulled out an odd uniform, set with legging-like pants, a tank top and a blazer for over top, all of it black. I noted the symbol that covered back of the blazer, a logo for the public safety bureau. I examined it closely, admiring the two snakes that were weaved around a pole of sort. I hung the outfit back up in the closet and closing it, suddenly uninterested. I wandered out of the room and towards the elevator, riding it down to the bottom floor, I walked out and further down the hall aimlessly. Soon enough, the hall faded off into a larger, open section that took up a good 1/4 of the floor, no doubt.

Inside was multiple things, too many to count. A large group of people crowded the television in the far corner, an I slowly, and very awkwardly, walked that way. I approached the crowd quietly, but that didn't stop two of them from glancing my way, one of them grinning. There was a certain familiarity to him, "The fresh meat, nice to see you again."

It took me a moment to tie in the fact that he was one of the boys that'd been standing over me when I'd been under the excruciating pain of paralysis and injection. He was older by a couple of years at the least. "Hi."

"Sorry, where are my manners, I'm Benny." He says, spinning so he faced me while he sat on the top of the couch. No one else in the small group seemed to be paying much attention, "And I'm going to go out on a limb and say we're in the same division, now. Your names Kaiden?"

"Yeah." I said, blinking. I looked around the room for more familiar figures, but came up empty handed. None of the figures jumped out at me. "Um, who else is on.. our... division?"

He took a moment to look around the room, pointing out a boy with blonde hair, who was significantly older. Late twenties or early thirties, at least. "Him."

He looked around again, and then snickered to himself, pointing at a boy who sat alone in the far corner, looking at something on the screen of a portable computer. He looked familiar, now that he was pointed out. Black hair fell down in front of his face messily, and he had a angry look displayed on his face. "That one's with us too."

"He looks mad." I point out obviously.

"Yeah, he's also the bastard that shot you, so..." His voice trailed off as he snickered and I shivered from the memory. Dangling above the cement, completely unable to move. "Don't worry about him, he's always like that. He's Hayes, and that name should start being used to describe moody teenage boys. _Noun, Hayes. Example: He's just so Hayes."_

"Interesting."


	4. Chapter 4

At 8 am the next morning, there was a loud knock on the door of my room, causing me to wake with a jolt. I rubbed at my eyes, and when the knocking continued, I struggled to stand and shuffle to the door. I pulled it open and squinted to get a look at whoever stood there. It took me a long moment to recognize it as Mrs. Aillot, the woman from yesterday. She smiled, but it quickly faded. "Ms. Rayys, could you please get your uniform on and meet us up in the work room."

"Um, yeah." I said, my mind taking a moment to process her instructions. "Um, what uniform? The black one?"

She sighs, sidestepping me, she invited herself into the room and into my closet, where she pulled out the black outfit with the blazer that I'd been looking at yesterday. "This one."

"Thanks." I muttered awkwardly, watching as she left the room, closing the door behind her.

I stood there, a cross of tired and confused, for a little longer than a second. But when the sound of footsteps walking towards the elevator filled the hall, I got a move on it, quickly changing out of the clothing that I'd slept in. Once I was in the new clothing, I felt significantly restricted under the scratchy fabric, it was a major regression.

I sighed, taking the elastic from my wrist I tied my hair up and left the room, running up to the elevator that's doors were closing, I shoved my hand in the way so they opened again. My eyes widened when I saw who was inside; the same moody figure that'd apparently shot me yesterday. My features set as I stepped in and off to the side, watching as the doors closed again. There was an awkward silence in the elevator, and neither of us made an attempt to speak.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, just before the doors opened and both of us stepped out. I followed him into the work room, which happened to be the one full of desks and computers. Stephen sat at one of the larger desks, smiling at me when I stepped inside, he pointed to an empty desk at the other end of the room. I walked over to the one he was pointing at and sat in the office chair behind it, subconsciously twirling it around. When it came back to face the computer, Stephen was leaning over it, smiling.

"Good morning, Ms. Rayys." He said, "Are you ready to start working?"

"Yeah," I wet my lips, adjusting the way I sat in the seat so I didn't look as much like the slouching teenager I was. "What do I do?"

"So, you're assigned to help us find Gareth, that is your number one priority." He says, "You'll be occasionally assigned to help us with other urgent cases, should they come up, but for now just use what you need to find your brother. You have internet access, a phone... knock yourself out."

I nod, looking back at the computer, I stare at it blankly. "Can... can I go somewhere to look around? Is that allowed?"

His eyebrows furrowed before he spoke, "Does it relate to the case?"

I bite my tongue, almost wanting to say _no, _but I was done lying. If my brother really had done all they said he did... he wasn't worth my protection anymore. "Yes."

He snickers, "Where? Why?"

I take a breath, "Before he left, my brother told me where he was going. I mean, it was 10 years ago, but there might be something-"

"Yeah, totally. Uh, of course." He grins, running to his desk, he grabs a paper and looks it over, "It's the first lead we've had in this case, so... yes! It looks like Maya and Hayes are without a case today, so I'll go with you three and... you can take the reigns."

"Cool." I mumbled, standing as he walked towards Maya, the girl with the bright pink hair at the other end of the room. As he spoke to her, she looked passed his figure at me and gave me a smile and a wave that I didn't return. When she nodded and made her way to the door, he moved on to Hayes, who simply nodded and walked out the door, as well. I got the sense that I should to the same, and I did when Stephen motioned for me to follow him out. Stephen, Hayes and I crammed into an elevator down, having missed Maya by a few seconds.

Upon reaching the first floor, we stepped out. Once again, I trailed behind Stephen while we left the building and rounded the corner to what looked significantly like a garage. Maya waited patiently near one of the paddy-wagons, and Stephen sighed, watching as he unlocked the back of it for us to climb into. Hayes and Maya did it without hesitation, but I just stared at it for a second. Stephen, having noticed my pause, walked up behind me and patted me on the back, "You've got to get in if we're going to go, Kaiden."

I nod, reaching up and grabbing hold of the bar, I pulled my body into the back of the paddy-wagon and settled into a seat on the same bench as Maya, who wasted no time in conversing as the back door closed mechanically, and a purple light above us illuminated the large space. "Hiya, stranger."

I swallowed, "Hi."

She grinned, spinning so she faced me with her body as well, she held out a hand, "We met yesterday among all the chaos, I'm not sure if you remember."

"Yeah, I do." I muttered, shaking her hand tentatively. "I'm, ah, Kaiden."

"Akaiden or just Kaiden?" She clarified with a smirk on her face. I smiled back, "Kidding. Kaiden. Got it."

I nodded. "Um, how old are you?"

She paused, squinting. "How old do you _think_ Iam?"

I bit my lip as I looked over her features, "Twenty?"

"How flattering!" She said, her face lighting up, she glanced at Hayes, "See, I don't look like a tween, you piece of crap."

I watch her insult her, and I remained entirely confused while she did. Finally, she looked back at me and spoke, "He told me I looked like a 13 year old girl that hadn't hit puberty yet. He's an ass, don't talk to him. Anyways, I'm not 20, I'm 18. You?"

"17." I say quietly, and the boy, Hayes, glances up at that.

"17?" He mutters, laughing. "Stephen and Aillot are in trouble now."

"Why?" I asked, ""What does my being seventeen have to do with that?"

Maya clears her throat, "Well, it's kind of in the rule book that there's no one under the legal age that is allowed to be in the Enforcers divisions, for obvious reasons. What we do is dangerous."

I bite my lip, "And I'm not 18 yet, so... it's illegal?"

"Yeah," Hayes mutters. "I imagine they're planning on waiting til you turn 18 to add you into the division system officially."

"Oh." I say, "Well then."

"Yeah." He mumbles, "And that means I now have some fine leverage on that bastard up there."

He points to the front of the vehicle, where Stephen was driving behind the wheel.

"Oh, hush." Maya says, "You may be a tad bit of a daredevil, but even you would never blackmail Stephen."

"Try me."

"10 bucks says you won't do it." Maya pushes, and I roll my eyes. Something tells me those two didn't get along very well, at all.

"20 says I will." He replies, his sly grin growing even.. slier.

"You're on."

A sound from the front of the vehicle made them stop arguing, as a small hatch was opened that allowed us to see and talk to Stephen, and him to us. He leaned back in his seat, "Ms. Rayys, I don't actually know where I'm going."

My cheeks tinged red, "Oh, right. Um, do you know Raymers Road?"

"No but I'll pull it up on the GPS. Do we have a specific address?" He asked, and a shook my head, before I realized he wouldn't be able to see that when he's driving, like now.

"Um, no." I said, "It's an old farm near the woods."

"Alright, I'll keep my eyes out when we're on Raymers, then." He said, pressing a button to have the hatch closed.

Maya and Hayes both look my way right after, but Hayes, unlike Maya, is silent. "So, why are we going to an old farm near the woods?"

I blink, sighing. "When my brother left, that's where he told me he would be staying. It was more than 10 years ago now, but... maybe he left something behind. For me, I mean."

Maya gets a look on her face, and it damn near resembled pity. Only then did I realize how saddening that sounded, and I felt the need to explain that I no longer _missed _my brother, that there was no internal need to find him and be reunited. I would much rather go my separate way and be done with it. I shrug, "Maybe not, though."

Hayes spoke up, surprising me. And from the look on Maya's face, his interest surprised her, too. "How old were you when he left?"

"Seven." I replied.

"How bad was his psycho-pass?" He asks, and I blink at the forwardness of his follow-up question.

"Uh," I have to think about it for a second. He never actually told me that. "I don't know."

"Huh." He says, "But it was bad enough that he ran away?"

"Yeah." I said, biting my lip while I worked up the nerve. "What's yours?"

He looks taken aback, he probably didn't expect that, either. And from the way I'd been acting since I'd arrived, he probably least of all expected it from me. After a moments stutter, "Three Hundred on the dot."

I gasp, and I immediately want to take it back. Should it go up by one, _just one, _he'd be subjective for a lethal injection. They would kill him. Crime coefficients above 300 are viewed as lethal, themselves. He, however, doesn't seem to care. Hayes only snorts at my reaction, "I know, right? Only 19, and I've accomplished so much."

Maya reaches over and slaps him, but her face doesn't mask the emotion behind it. She feels just as bad for him as I do as of ten seconds ago. He was walking on a high wire and he knew it. I glanced over at Maya, "Yours?"

She smiled, "127."

I look at her, incredibly confused. "But that's under 150, shouldn't they let you go?"

She nods, "True, but I decided to stay. I just have more rights than you lot. I need to go to therapy every day and stuff, but I'm allowed out on the streets whenever I please."

"Oh."

"What's yours?" She asks, "You seem like a nice girl. Let me guess, 151?"

I laugh, but it's humor less. "I wish."

"Higher?" She asks. "160?"

"Nope." I say, my face falling. "250."

Her jaw drops slightly, obviously she wasn't expecting that response. Hayes, however, laughs, full of humor and amusement. He takes a moment to collect himself when Maya and I start staring at him, "I-I'm sorry, you just really don't seem like the type... ha, we've got a full blown killer on the lose, folks."

I glare, "Yours is higher than mine."

"Yeah, but only by 50." He says, "You and me are in the top three highest co-efficients in all three divisions. Congratulations."

"Gee, thank you." I roll my eyes once again, "Who's the other one?"

"Karly, she's at 290, also in our Division." He thinks, "Wow we're a bunch of crazies."

Maya grins, "We should be in asylums."

"Locked up forever." Hayes continues with the joke, and I can't help but smile a little.

"Strapped to the beds." I add.

"Damn. We're so crazy..." He says, "We should be dead."

The joke died at that.


End file.
